


Dean Winchester- The Demon's Revenge

by deanandsam



Category: Supernatural
Genre: AU from beginning of season four, Gen, sam and dean - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-20
Updated: 2018-09-07
Packaged: 2018-09-10 14:01:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8919931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deanandsam/pseuds/deanandsam
Summary: Dean Winchester is in Hell, but he's not planning to stay. Sam needs him.Once he's out, he goes looking for his little brother, even though Dean's not quite himself.





	1. Chapter 1

All around him the wails and moans of the damned which had once seemed so terrifying and heart-rending, no longer bothered him. They'd become akin to the buzz of traffic in any big Earth city, a background noise no-one noticed any more, their ears classifying it as an integral part of the city's vitality.

Even the screams for mercy of the souls which writhed on the rack under his razor no longer had the power to move him, the last tendrils of pity having disappeared along with most of his humanity, but not quite all, because the reason he found himself here, Hell had not been able to eradicate.

It was still there, alive and kicking, the only thing keeping him sane, isolated in a tiny indestructible bubble in a far corner of his soul, hidden in the smoke-filled darkness it had now become.

Nothing would ever be able to take that memory from him, not Alastair, nor Hell, nor his almost complete transformation into a demon.

 

Dean could feel Alastair's pride as he watched him cut and carve; much like that of a demonic father for a demonic son.

He could understand now what Azazel meant when he claimed Meg and her brother as his children; offspring not born of blood or birth as on Earth, but by acquisition; being Azazel the one who had turned those souls into demons, just as Alastair had done with him and who considered him in a twisted way his surrogate son.

Hell was a place reserved for sinners, and yet sins were as real here as they were on Earth, and just as Alastair felt pride in Dean's expertise as a torturer, Dean felt nothing but hate for what he'd been turned into, and for the demon that had taken such great pleasure in supervising that transformation.

 

As he applied himself to the latest unfortunate soul to fall under his hands, Dean's mind went back to the disruption which had spun through the Pit earlier, when a group of angels had for some reason entered and tried to fight their way through the Hellish realm.

They had been pushed back by demonic forces, weaker but much superior in sheer numbers to the troop of angels.

Dean was curious as to why angels would bother breaking into Hell. He'd asked Alastair but the demon had replied with one of his witty quips that low-level demons like Dean weren't to be kept informed about Hell's business.

Dean had just shrugged and gotten back to work. Alastair wasn't going to tell him, but he still wondered.

 

As time passed and Dean became ever more proficient with the blade, Alastair began leaving him on his own unsupervised, for longer periods, and Dean would draw back his razor and turn his mind inward to that little corner of his soul where the sole thought which kept him from succumbing completely to his demon-hood, was hidden. The memory of his little brother, of Sam.  
Where was he? What was he doing? Was he even still alive?

Centuries could have passed for all Dean knew; he had no way of measuring time. The only certainty he had was that Sam's soul wasn't in Hell, otherwise Alastair would have gleefully let him know.

He continued to ignore the wailing soul on his rack and thought back to how his father John had gotten out of Hell when the Devil's Gate had opened in Wyoming.

If he ever got an opportunity like that, he was going to take it.

It might never come along but if he got lucky, he too would manage to fight his way out of here.

He understood all too well now why demons didn't want to be exorcised back to this. Hell was indescribable...well, it was HELL!

 

Dean had learned that the Devil's Gates were dotted all over the Pit and if one was opened by chance or by human intervention, such as the one John had slipped through thanks to Jake, it could be sensed by all of Hell's minions who'd rush towards it like some wild herd of cattle, stomping and crawling over one another to get there first and pass through before it closed.

So if by a lucky chance, a Gate happened to open near you, then it was almost guaranteed you'd manage to get out before the seething horde of demons arrived.

Only the thought of Sam, and the eternal hope that he might be lucky enough to get out through a Devil's Gate kept Dean sane while he went about his work.

 

Hope of course wasn't one of the most diffused sensations in Hell, despair was, but Dean's little ray of hope must have paid off as the unthinkable happened and a Gate opened practically on top of him, and so Dean Winchester's soul, now a black swirling smoke, grasped the opportunity it had been waiting for and was the first to fly, free and unfettered through the opening.

His soul soared up through the blue sky, ecstatic at its freedom, at its power to streak through the heavens and look down on the wonders of his home planet.

He revelled in the sensations, but then the carefully conserved little bubble in his brain reminded him of where he had to go.

He had to find his little brother. He had to find Sammy.

 

The demonic part of his soul was impulsive, violent and instinctive but Dean still had enough control over himself to be able to reason, and his reason told him that he couldn't stay in this form.

If he wanted to find Sam he couldn't turn up as black demonic smoke; he would have to find a body to possess. He had no idea if he could even do it, but he'd been witness to many demons entering and leaving human hosts and if they could do it, then he could too.

His instinct pushed him to possess the first human who passed by, but the part of him that was still Dean refused to do that to an innocent human; he'd find another way.

The black smoke hovered over the squalid alleyways where the low-life hung out. Drug-dealers, criminals and bands of youths roamed through them. Sooner or later someone would be killed and as soon as the soul had left that body, Dean would possess it.

 

It felt odd to be waiting around for someone to die.

Once upon a time he'd have been trying to save a life instead of waiting impatiently for a death. He didn't have long to debate the problem however, as a knife–fight between two young gang leaders left one of them bleeding out on the ground.

Dean saw the soul exit the body and hoped for its sake it wasn't destined for the Pit.  
:

The killer and his followers quickly disappeared from the scene and Dean hovered hesitantly over the dead body.

It was a young Latin-American, not more than seventeen or eighteen. He would do for now, Dean thought as he tried to force his smoky essence in through the corpse's mouth.

It took him many attempts to get the hang of it. Gathering his smoke into a straight line and pulling it in was more difficult than it seemed, but eventually he succeeded.

The sensation of being corporal once again was so strange. He felt as if he was inside some kind of robot and he stumbled off like a Frankenstein which had just been assembled by a mad doctor.

 

However Dean Winchester had always been a quick learner, and now that he had a human aspect again, he turned his mind to how exactly he would go about finding Sam.

He rummaged in his host's pockets and found a cell-phone, a wallet with a wad of cash, and a driver's license. He flipped it open. Luis Delgado. He had a ready-made alias. It would do for now.

 

His eyes were drawn to a diner across the street.

He had waited so long to get back to Sam, the time spent eating a hamburger wouldn't change anything.

He whistled as he entered the diner. "Three burgers, and two beers," he heard a voice saying to the pretty young waitress.

Dean knew it was coming from him, but it wasn't his voice.

"Right," he told himself ." This is a brave new world Dean, and it's gonna find out just what's hit it. Dean Winchester is back and there's an whole list of douche-bags due for payback."

He salivated, or at least Delgado's body did at the sight and smell of the hamburgers and Dean reckoned he'd gone from Hell straight to Heaven as his teeth tore through the meat.

tbc


	2. Chapter 2

Reborn, that's how Dean felt as he walked the busy streets, his senses heightened by his demonic powers.  
He could see the auras of the humans' souls who passed him by on the streets; some were shining white, others tarnished and many already as black as the hell they were destined to inhabit after death.  
A few were marked in red and he surmised they were the individuals who had made crossroad deals, and for whom the hell-hounds would be coming when said deals came due, to tear them apart just as they had done with him.

The demonic part of him sizzled with pleasure at the thought of the revenge and undefinable tortures he would submit Lilith and her cronies to, for what she had done to him and to Sam. His fame as Alastair's favourite pupil was well-earned after all, he mused with a certain pride.  
Dean pushed the delicious thoughts of vengeance to the side and concentrated on Sam.

He was no longer in Hell and the bubble of humanity that responded to that beloved name burst with a pop and started to release its carefully hoarded contents into his essence; it was only a spark in the blackness of his demonic soul but a raging fire can be fuelled by a tiny spark.  
He had only one objective now; to get to Sam.

As he walked past a store window he caught a glimpse of his borrowed body and frowned. It would be hard enough to convince Sammy that he was Dean even if he turned up in his own familiar body, but wearing this meat-suit would make things far more difficult.  
He had to get his body back before contacting Sam, but that wouldn't stop him from taking a peek at his little brother to see if he was all right, and to do that he needed a car. 'No you don't, idiot," a little voice whispered. "Demon, dude!"  
Dean felt a smile forming on his borrowed face.  
He didn't need a car to check up on Sammy.

He smirked at the memory of himself and Sam when they were kids dressed up as Superman and Batman. They had giggled like girls, jumping carefree off a shed and ending up with his dorky little brother breaking his leg, but unlike then Dean really was superman now, just a bit more diabolic!

Turning quickly into a dark alleyway, he sat his body down behind a row of rubbish bins and concentrated on gathering his smoke. He pushed out through the open mouth of his host, savouring the rush of freedom, soaring unfettered up into the evening sky.

The only downside to this smokey form was that he couldn't trace Sammy by conventional means, GPS and such, but there was more than one way to skin a Sasquatch cat.  
He hovered, hanging free in the sky, and concentrated on his little brother.  
The part of Sam that had been tainted by Azazel's blood was the very part that would lead Dean to him.  
He sent out tendrils of smoke, each of the fragments searching for Sam's demon blood. His smoke quivered as it caught the scent and he followed the sweet-smelling aroma of his little brother until he hovered over a flea-bitten motel.

Sammy's there; the little spark of humanity in his soul hummed happily as Dean lowered himself to the window and looked in.  
He didn't know what he expected to see, but the small dark-haired women invading Sam's personal space, mouthing off to him, wasn't it.  
His demonic instincts informed him immediately who she was. That was no human girl, it was Ruby wearing a different meat-suit!  
A dark rage came over him as he realised that his 'noble' sacrifice in selling his soul for Sam had resulted in there being no-one around to look out for his brother, leaving him prey for skanks like her.

Ignoring the female demon for the moment, Dean drank in the sight of his little brother, the memory of whom had kept that tiny part of himself sane. Sam didn't look so good, Dean noticed; his eyes had dark bags under them, his skin was pale and he looked skinnier than he remembered.

He resisted the overwhelming instinct to barge in, not that he could anyway, there were salt-lines laid down carefully at the windows and doors.  
In his present vaporous state, there was nothing he could do. It was imperative that he get his own body back.  
What if Sam had cremated him? He shrugged the idea off. Knowing his brother, Sammy would have preserved his body in the hope that he could get Dean out of hell.

Feeling like a stalker, he watched as Ruby threw a satisfied smirk at Sam before turning towards the door, waiting until he broke the salt line and let her out.  
Dean got ready to draw back.  
Outside the salt lines, she would be able to sense his presence and it wasn't yet time for them to meet. He had a more intimate reunion planned for her.  
Whatever she was doing hanging around Sam, he was absolutely sure it wasn't to do his little brother any favours.

He soared up into the sky, well away from the motel, waited a few minutes then came back, just to see Sam exit the room.  
He held back when he saw Sam stop, look around and frown, an expression of confusion on his face, the self-same expression he used to have when he was a kid and would ply Dean with a never-ending series of questions on why, how and what for? Perhaps Sam had sensed his presence.  
Dean wanted nothing more than to reveal himself to his brother, but the time was not yet right.

He was expecting his sibling to get into the Impala, which he glimpsed parked at the front of the motel all clean and polished up.  
"Way to go, Sammy! You've kept my baby in tip-top condition" he whispered to himself.  
He understood why, of course. It was all Sam had left of him and he'd cherished the black beauty as best he could in Dean's absence  
"Don't worry little brother, we'll be back together soon and we've got some ass to kick."

Sam however didn't stop, he passed right by the car and walked into the nearby woods.

Dean took his smoke to a higher altitude, following Sam until his brother stopped beside a grave with a simple wooden cross marking the spot.  
That had to be it, if Sam's sobs were anything to go by. He watched as his little brother threw himself onto the grave, his tears dripping onto the grassy covering.  
"Sammy...," Dean's soul cried out; the little spark of humanity burning stronger as he watched the one person on Earth he had, and did love, more than death itself, demonstrate how much Dean was loved in return.  
Sam cried until he had no tears left to shed, then without a word he got up, dusted off the specks of dirt and grass from the front of his shirt and jeans, turned and walked back from where he'd come.

Dean waited until he was out of sight and came to hover over the grave.  
His body was in there, well what was left of it anyway. He still had no idea of how long he had been in hell. To him it had seemed an eternity but Sam didn't look much older than when he'd left.  
For now he would have to get back to his borrowed meat-suit, come back and dig himself up. His body would need repairs, though perhaps possessing it would be enough to counteract the ravages of decomposition.  
He'd picked up a lot of new abilities in Hell but this little detail hadn't been in Demon 101.  
He'd have to go by trial or error, possess his body and see if it healed on its own, otherwise he'd have to go looking for some hoodoo or voodoo spells to bring his body back up to scratch.

Soaring back into the sky, he relished once again the freedom it gave him, before pouring his smoke back into Delgado. He needed tools and a car to get back to the grave, the first he procured thanks to Delgado's wallet and the second thanks to his own hot-wiring skills.  
He was anxious to get his body back.

He needed to see Sam. The nearer he was to his little brother, the more his demonic instincts would be curbed. Love was the most powerful emotion in the universe; it even existed in Hell though it was twisted and warped out of recognition.  
Sam was Dean's yellow brick road back to humanity, and Dean would follow it willingly..

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

Digging up a grave was hard work at the best of times, but knowing the rotting corpse you were about to uncover was your own, didn't make for happy vibes.  
Add to that the scrawniness of his host body, devoid of muscle mass, and the going was even tougher.

While he laboured, Dean replayed the scene he'd observed in the motel room.  
Perhaps the fact that Sam was holding a conversation with Ruby wasn't particularly odd, given she'd been present when Dean had been dragged off to hell. 

Could be the kid was using her to dig for information or whatever, though her body language oozed confidence, as if she was perfectly at ease in Sam's presence.  
Dean had intimate knowledge of demons now, and he'd yet to meet one who wasn't a patented liar or had their own personal agenda. 

Ruby for all her claims to helping them defeat Lilith had, ultimately, been in no way useful to the cause.  
Dean had still gone to Hell, and Lilith was still alive.

 

No, once he got his body back, he'd find out what was really going on.  
This wasn't what he'd gone to Hell for.  
He'd sold his soul in the hope that Sam would live a good life, maybe go back to college, find another girl to love, have a couple of kids.  
Ruby hadn't been part of the future he'd envisaged for his baby brother.

 

When he eventually broke through the lid of the simple pine coffin to expose its contents, the sight had to be one of the most unnerving he'd ever clapped eyes on, and he'd seen plenty!  
But somehow when it's your own body that's gone putrid, skin bloated and peeling....well... fuck!

Squatting on his haunches at the graveside, Dean wondered if he'd have the courage to push his smoke into the rotting corpse.  
“Come on, man-up, or should I say demon-up,” Dean grunted, readying himself to exit Delgado's body  
There was no point in putting things off. He had to get back to Sam.

Smoking out, he left the dead man's body to collapse boneless to the ground. 

 

Hovering above the grave, Dean hesitated a moment before compacting himself into a narrow black line and heading for what was once one of his most attractive features, the mouth.  
Pushing his way through the decomposing lips, he hoped his demonic essence would be enough to regenerate the corpse. Sure, demons could possess dead bodies and repair them when damaged, but this was on a whole different scale.  
Yet even in the state it found itself, Dean instantly felt in communion with his ravaged body.  
While possessing Delgado, he'd had the sensation of being inside a metal armour; able to move around, but awkward and unwieldy. 

 

As he lay in the grave looking up at the blue sky, he felt a tremulous quiver of amusement build inside him, though he hardly recognised it for what it was. In hell there had been nothing to laugh about. The only pale attempt at humour was Alastair's cutting sarcasm.  
Yeah, it was pretty laughable----Dean Winchester, his soul reduced to black smoke, stretched out in an open grave, inside his zombie body, waiting for a regeneration that might never come!

But for once Winchester luck was on his side, and the prickly, stinging, tingles that began to course through the decomposing flesh gave Dean hope that his body was repairing itself. 

Unmoving, as the sky darkened into twilight and the the stars began to dot the heavens, Dean was becoming ever more frustrated at the unresponsiveness of his body.  
He was getting ready to smoke out and take a quick look. Perhaps it was only wishful thinking that his corpse was repairing itself. 

Trying for one last time to flutter his eyelids, he almost couldn't believe it when it actually happened.

Before long, his muscles and limbs began to obey him and by the time the sun was high in the sky, Dean had crawled out of the ground.  
From what he could see of his legs, arms and torso, all seemed in order. Nevertheless, he smoked out just to make sure his face was back to its awesome best.  
Yep. Good as new.  
“You're one handsome fucker, “ he quipped, seeing himself as others did, not just a reflection in a mirror.

Repossessing his body, he ripped off the the now tattered shirt and jeans Sam had buried him in, stripped Delgado, then shrugged into the smaller man's too tight clothes.  
“Not a decent fit, but way better than what I was wearing before!” Dean grunted.  
He dragged the body of his ex-host to the edge of the hole, tipped it over and shovelled the dirt back in.

“Hope you've passed on, dude. If your ghost shows up, remember I know where to find you.” 

 

Turning his back on the grave, he made his way back towards the motel, and Sam.  
He'd been lucky getting out of hell, but he'd need to be very careful.  
Alastair wouldn't have taken his disappearance well, and if the demon ever got his hands on him, Dean knew he'd be back on the rack.

Banishing all thoughts of hell from his mind, he concentrated on his upcoming meeting with his little brother.  
Soon he'd see Sammy, and the little bubble of love which had kept Dean sane in Hell, vibrated in joyous anticipation.

 

But as Dean neared the parking lot, the much anticipated meeting with Sam wasn't gonna happen. The Impala was gone, and the room empty. Sam must have come to the grave yesterday to say good-bye.  
However this was only a minor set-back. Sam couldn't have gone far.

Pushing through the door to the reception area, Dean pasted on his most charming smile.  
“Excuse me, Ma'm,” he said to the elderly woman behind the desk. “I was supposed to meet my brother here, but I got held up, and I see he's taken off. Tall, lanky dude. Didn't say where he'd be goin', by any chance?”

“You boys never heard of cell phones?” she drawled, raising an eyebrow.  
“Uh, yeah, but mine's not working. Had a little accident with a glass of beer.”

She rolled her eyes. “Matter of fact. I did hear them arguing. She said something about Chicago, though your brother didn't seem too keen.”

Dean redoubled his smile. “Thanks. You've been real helpful."

As soon as he turned away, the smile disappeared, to be replaced by a determined scowl. The 'she' referred to could only be Ruby. The bitch was up to no good. She was manipulative, and strange as it might seem, Sam for all his geeky big brain, was an easy target.

There was something going on with his brother. Dean had gotten out of hell just in time.  
tbc


	4. Chapter 4

The miles streaked by as Dean stepped on the gas, the stolen car responding diligently to his foot on the pedal.  
He kinda felt a pang of sympathy for its owner. The Ford was old but kept in good condition, obviously loved, just as he loved the Impala.  
But before long he'd be back in his Baby, these wheels abandoned for the cops to find and return to sender.

Once more his thoughts flew to Ruby.  
Demons were lying bitches, and Dean was certain the only time Ruby had been truthful was when she'd told him there was no way of him getting out of his deal, so whatever the reason she was stalking Sam, it couldn't be anything positive.

He wondered what crap she'd fed Sammy in order make his sibling accept her company.

His little brother was a geek, an intelligent one, but at times he could be blind to the obvious, carried away by whatever theory or idea he was taken with.

 

Whatever was going on, Dean would put a stop to it. He could see demons' true faces now, and there was no way any of Ruby's lies would slip through his demonic spider's web!

 

It'd have been easy to zone in on Sam's position engaging his demonic powers, but to do that he'd have to exit his newly-resurrected body, something he hesitated in doing.  
The body needed to consolidate its healing.  
His Sammy-sense still worked though, he just had to get within a certain radius of his brother.

 

And it seemed his luck was holding, for three hours later he picked up the scent of Sam's blood, allowing it to lead him to a diner set back off the highway.  
Pulling into the parking lot he saw the Impala, and through the window glimpsed Sam, with Ruby sitting across from him at one of the corner tables.

So the bitch was still glued to his brother. 

The bubble of love in his demonic soul which was crying out to go inside and take his brother into his arms, touch his living flesh and receive the comfort he knew would come from the joy of having Sam once more at his side, was temporarily quashed down.  
He had to get to the bottom of this unholy alliance first.

 

When the Impala took off, Dean followed.  
He hadn't wanted to confront Ruby in such a public place.  
Better to wait until they stopped for the night, though well aware that as a demon, Ruby could have driven the Impala non-stop without tiring, but he had to hope Sam didn't want her at the wheel of the black car. 

Well, in that at least, Sam was predictable, for some hours later they drew into a roadside motel, his brother's tall figure exiting the driver's seat.

 

After giving them time to settle in, Dean sneaked up to the window, where the tableaux that presented itself made his newly reconstructed gut clench in horror.

Sam had his mouth glued to Ruby's arm, the drops of blood dotted on her meat-suit's pale skin clear evidence of what his baby brother was doing.  
Like the lowest of vampires, Sam was sucking her blood into his mouth with the eagerness of a hardened drug addict, and the expression on Ruby's face as she stared down at him, was of gloating triumph.

 

Schooling himself from bursting in and strangling the bitch, Dean instead continued to watch. 

 

What happened next was too much even for him.  
And when his gentle, empathic baby brother, his lips still flecked with blood, began to yank the clothes off Ruby and throw himself on her like a fury, he distanced himself from the window.

She had done this, he fumed, pacing up and down. She had poisoned his baby brother. She would pay!

 

How had things gotten to this point?  
Dean hadn't thought Sam was even aware he had demon blood in him.  
When he'd gone to hell, Dean certainly hadn't known.  
The true font of Sam's powers had been a mystery to him, but Alastair had gleefully informed him of how Azazel had bled into his brother's mouth as a baby, and with that knowledge, Dean's Hell had become even more hellish.

 

Whatever Ruby was up to though, Dean was convinced she wasn't in this alone.  
The bitch had been scheming since the first time she'd appeared with the demon-killing knife in her hand 'to help out' with the Seven Deadly Sins.  
But she'd tell him everything, He'd see to that.

He didn't have long to wait before she sauntered out through the door. Sam clearly didn't go in for cuddles and languid caresses after demon sex!  
As she didn't have another set of wheels, Dean surmised she'd transport away, and just as she took another step forward he gripped her arm and let himself be taken to the self-same spot.

 

Panic flickered in her eyes as she realised who was digging relentless fingers into her flesh.  
“Dean,” she hissed.  
“The one and only! Bitch!”

“No!” She shook her head, while trying to free herself from the iron hold. “It's not possible. You're in hell.”  
“Well, sweetheart, either, I'm some doppelgänger or it's the real Dean Winchester, fresh out of the infers. And now we've cleared that up, I want to know just what the fuck you're doing to Sam.”

“I.....Uh..I've been looking out for him while you were in hell,” she began.” He was drowning himself in alcohol, on a suicide run. If it wasn't for me he'd be dead by now.”

“Aw, isn't that sweet. Bleeding-heart demon Ruby taking car of my baby brother. I suppose I gotta thank you for that, “ Dean said, digging his fingers even more into Ruby's arm until he heard the bone crack beneath.”

“You're gonna tell me everything. I saw you back there feeding blood to Sam. Why the fuck would you do that, and why would Sam let you?”

 

A sneer plastered itself on her face. “Why don't you ask him, Dean. I'm sure once he sees his big brother back, he'll be more than willing to tell you whatever you want.”

“I'm asking you, Ruby, “ Dean growled. “And I'm finished being Mr. Nice Guy. I'm sure you'll have heard of my apprenticeship under Alastair and how proud I made him....”

“I can't tell you,Dean. They'd destroy me,” Ruby avowed, her face paling.  
“You're going to die anyway. If you spill, I'll make it quick, otherwise......I topped the record for pain delivery amongst Alastair's students....”

Ruby looked around wild-eyed.  
She'd transported into the parking lot where she kept her car, and there was no-one around; not that she could run, Dean had no intention of letting go, and her lizard brain noticed how strong he'd become despite such a relatively short time in Hell.

“The blood drinking makes Sam's powers stronger, “ she blurted out. “Once I'd explained it to him, Sam was willing to do whatever it took to get his revenge on Lilith and rescue you from hell.”

“Of course, I'm sure you encourage him down that path, Didn't you, Ruby?”  
“I told you, He wanted this. I just played along.”

“So, let me get this straight, if Sam drinks your blood, he'll become powerful enough to take out Lilith. And then what?  
From what I just witnessed back there, Sam was chugging at the blood in a frenzy, as if he wanted to drain you completely.  
I'm gonna go out on a limb here and guess there are side effects!”

Ruby shrugged. “The blood can be addictive, but I've been trying to keep him on a minimum dose.”

 

Dean's laugh was sarcastic. “Minimum dose.. huh! So you keep him on a leash, with promises of more to come. That way he's always gonna come running back to you.”

 

He stared at her, trying to read her tells.  
Demons lied, though Dean reckoned what she'd said was probably true. He just wondered if there was more to it.

Allowing his eyes to blacken, he transported back to the Impala, Ruby in tow. And despite much struggling on her part, he pushed her into the trunk. The devil's trap painted inside the lid would hold her for now.

It was time he talked to his brother.  
TBC


	5. Chapter 5

Ignoring Ruby's muted shrieks to free her, Dean closed in on the motel room.

Now that the moment he'd been anticipating since he'd escaped from Hell, had arrived, he felt oddly apprehensive.

How would his brother react? Would Sam believe he was really Dean, or would he suspect it was some supernatural hoax?

Well, there was only one way to find out.

Taking a deep breath, he knocked on the door.

:

There was silence in the room, then footsteps, as Sam came towards the threshold.

:

And there he was, Dean's baby brother, the one person he loved above all others. The little bubble which contained his memories of Sam continued to grow and spread, pushing the demonic part of his soul to the perimeter, allowing his humanity to grab better hold.

'Hey, Sammy.'

A ticker tape of emotions alternated themselves on Sam's face, ranging from shock to horror.

'I know. I'm awesome. That's gotta leave you without words,' Dean added with a fond smile.

:

But words weren't the first item on Sam's agenda. Holy water and the demon killing knife were, and like a fury he turned to grab both from the table.

But Dean hadn't escaped from Hell just to get sent back by his baby brother.

'Sorry, Sammy,' he whispered into Sam's ear, having pulled him into a steely embrace.

'I get it. It's hard for you to believe, but it's really me,' Dean declared. 'I'm not an imposter, not a ghoul, ghost or shapeshifter.'

'No,' Sam yelled, struggling to free himself. 'Dean's dead. I buried his body myself.'

Dean knew there was no way Sam would listen to mere words, so he held on tight to his sibling, visualized the grave site in his mind, took a deep breath and hoped his demonic transportation ability kicked in.

:

A second later they were both standing on the verge of the grave where Dean had buried Luis Delgado in place of his own body.

Never loosening his hold on his brother, he grunted. 'Look, Sam. Where are we? Huh! This is the place you buried me, isn't it? If I release you, will you listen to what I have to say? Give me a chance to explain.'

:

Sam's eyes were two saucers as he studied the grave. It had been freshly dug over.

'I'll listen. Let me go, but if you're a fucker who's taken on Dean's semblances, I'll never stop until you're dead.'

Dean gave a wry huff as he carefully disengaged from his brother. 'Being ripped to shreds by a hellhound is an experience I don't want to repeat, so if you do end up killing me, make it quick!'

:

Sam turned to study him then, and Dean let him look his fill. The fury in Sam's eyes softened. Even if this creature didn't turn out to be his big brother, just seeing him whole and alive was manna from heaven.

'Sorry, I didn't think to bring a spade, dude,' Dean said, 'but my hands were kind of occupied holding on to your sasquatch self. However, I can assure you my body's no longer in that grave. There's someone else there now.'

'There's no way my brother's body could look like that,' Sam declared, pointing a finger at Dean. 'He's been under the ground for four months.'

'I fixed myself up,' Dean said with a quirky grin.

He was tired now, not in a physical way, but emotionally. He hadn't expected Sam to welcome him with open arms without checking him out with the tools of the trade, but it didn't seem his baby brother was ever going to believe him, and all Dean wanted at that moment was to hug his sibling and tell him how much he'd missed him.

'Are you really, Dean?' Sam asked in a small voice, causing the elder to catch his brother's eyes in a long transparent gaze.

'It's really me, Sammy. I got out of Hell through a Devil's Gate just like dad did.'

:

That must've done it for Sam, because Dean found his arms full of baby brother, his head burrowed into Dean's neck, snot and wet tears goose-pimpling his skin.

'Dean, it's really you. I tried everything to get you out, Even went to the crossroads to sell my soul, but the demon just laughed in my face. Told me they already had the Winchester they needed.'

Dean rubbed his brother's back, flat circles of comfort across the broad shoulders, letting Sam get it all out.

It felt good to be able to look after Sammy again. This time though, he could do it much better. He might be a demon, but he couldn't fault the powers which went with his new status.

Unfortunately, Sam would probably not see his demonhood as a positive!

:

When Sam pulled away, he was an emotional wreck, his eyes red with crying, his checks pallid and tear-stained.

'Wait a minute,' he said, frowning, as if the realization had just come to him. 'How…did we get here? Did…. you transport us?'

'I was going to tell you in another moment, but it seems I've already played my hand. The time in Hell is different to Earth, dude. Here four months have passed, but down below it's been forty years. And well, souls get turned into demons, Sammy.'

If Sam's face had been pale before, it became cadaveric at his brother's words. 'Forty years! Dean….No! You're a demon?'

'Fraid so, kid. But it's not all bad. How do you think I repaired my body?'

Dean sighed as Sam's eyes moistened again. 'No please, Sam. Stop. It's still me. Just a little different.'

;

So saying, he held onto Sam once more, conjured up the image of the Impala and in the wink of an eye they were back beside her.

:

'I didn't do enough,' Sam groaned, still internalizing the idea of Dean having suffered torture for forty years.

Dean shook him then. 'I know you did all you could, Sammy. There no use recriminating. What's done is done.'

:

Ruby must have heard their voices, as she began hammering on the metal cover of the trunk. 'Let me out of here, you bastard,' she shouted.

'What's going on?' Sam asked, staring at the car.

'Nothing,' Dean shrugged. 'I ran into Ruby. Thought I'd lock her safely away until we talked.'

'You can let her out, Dean. She's helping me. She's on our side.'

:

Dean tilted his head to gaze at his brother. He was wondering if Sam would mention exactly how Ruby was helping him, but it wasn't forthcoming. Well, he'd deal with the bitch himself.

After all, he'd just found his brother again, he certainly wasn't going to argue with him over Ruby. Not yet anyway!

:

'Come on, dude. We've got lots to talk about. I'm sure Ruby wouldn't want to interrupt our get together.'

He clapped a hand on Sam's shoulder and turned him towards the motel room. His brother took one hasty look back at the trunk, then let himself be led.

tbc


End file.
